Problem: $\text F = \left[\begin{array}{rr}5 & 3 \\ -2 & 1\end{array}\right]$ What is the determinant of $\text F$ ?
Answer: The determinant of a 2x2 matrix can be computed the following way: $ \left|\begin{array}{rr}a & b \\ c & d\end{array}\right| = (a \times d)-(b \times c) $ In this specific case, $ \left|\begin{array}{rr}5 & 3 \\ -2 & 1\end{array}\right| = (5 \cdot 1)-(3 \cdot -2) $ $ = 11 $